Baltimore County homeowners may soon get a tax break for making energy-saving improvements like installing solar-powered hot water heaters or buying efficient windows, if one lawmaker gets his way.
County Council Member Vincent Gardina, D-District 5, introduced a bill this week to establish a property tax credit for homeowners who want to take steps to reduce their own energy consumption.
Homeowners could be eligible for a tax credit worth 25 percent of their new equipment, including construction and installation, or 100 percent of their county property tax bill for one year ? whichever is less, Gardina said.
“We?re trying to encourage people,” Gardina said. “These are major efforts to curtail energy consumption and reduce global warming.”
The credits would be applied on a first-come, first-serve basis, he said, and the county would stop granting them after reimbursing $1 million each year.
They would also be limited to owner-occupied homes and residents who could only receive a credit once every three years.
Several environmentalists said they welcome the proposal. But Polly Bart, who owns a county-based green building company, said the incentives should be greater for more costly improvements, like solar hot water heaters, solar-paneled roofs, and geothermal heating and air-conditioning systems, that cost upwards of $30,000.
The bill also rewards federally “star-rated” appliances like windows, central air conditioning units and heat pumps, which are much smaller investments, Bart said, and deserve smaller paybacks.
“The reward for the big stuff ought to be big and the rewards for the little stuff ought to be little,” Bart said.
The council unanimously approved a similar tax program for efficient commercial buildings, an initiative Gardina also sponsored.
The council is expected to discuss the proposal at their Oct. 10 worksession.
